Lovin2lose

Before surgery I wore men's New Balance sneakers with a width size of 4EE or could be 4EEEE. I just know they're really wide. And ugly. Even though I've lost 100 lbs my feet are still really wide. Tried on sneakers in the normal wide sizes, but still too tight. So where can I find some cute WOMAN'S sneakers (that I can get different colors) and cute styles?

Like many people I was a HUGE taker of ibuprophen. I haven't taken it since a few weeks before surgery. So probably since the end of May last year. But when the time comes when I have a headache/knee pain, etc I'll take a Tyleno or two but we all know how useless that is. So most of the time I don't even bother. Anyways, my sister in law posted something on Facebook (and we know if we see it on Facebook, it must be legit LOL) about taking a Vitamin called Tumeric/Curcumin. Claims to be a pain reliver and took away this persons migraine plus has many other health benefits. Does anyone take this? Do you take it daily or just when you have aches/pains? Are the pills big? I used to be able to take monsterous sized pills but since surgery, not so much.

I think during spring break in a couple weeks, I'm gonna take a ride up to Foxwoods and hit the Sketchers store. I keep hearing good things about them.

Seriously, I seem to have my Water bottle attached to me 24hrs a day and seem to be sipping all day long but have yet to get my 48-64oz in a day. I'm 3 weeks out, so I'm still using Protein shakes and I know that takes up 8oz and I usually drink an 8oz glass of milk so that's 24oz right there. So minimally, I should be drinking 24oz of plain water (or crystal light, etc) I'm lucky if I get in an extra 8oz of water throughout the day.

I'm just under two weeks post-op. I was operated on here in the states and my post-op diet is as follows. Day of surgery, we're allowed NOTHING at all. No Water, nothing. That sucked. Stage 1: just water (this was the day after surgery) We could only sip no more than 1oz over 1 hour. Stage 2: Clear liquids, sipping no more than 3oz over 1 hour. Then we were sent home on day 3. Stage 3: sugar free & low fat full liquids, sipping no more than 8oz over 1 hour. We're supposed to get in 48oz liquids a day plus 60 grams of Protein. During this stage the doctor approved water, crystal light, coffe/tea, broth, sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, sugar free juice, tomato or V-8 juice, yogurt Stage 4: pureed/soft foods. This is where we can introduce things like fish, tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, imitation seafood, cheese, cottage cheese ricotta cheese, eggs, baked chicken/turkey. So, I go see my doctor in two days for my 2 weeks post op appointment and this is where he'll advance me to stage 4-pureed foods. Personally, I cannot wait. I'm so sick of drinking and can't wait to taste food again, even though it'll look like baby food. LOL I guess I could get to my question now. Once I start eating again whether it's during the pureed food stage or once I start to actually eat normally again, how long does it take for you to know if what you're eating is going to agree with you? Is this something that you feel immediate or does it take time for your stomach to say, 'NOPE' this ain't happening?

I've been using My Fitness Pal for a while now but I've always just put in a single item. I've never made a recipe and tried to record it. I plan on making that Ricotta Bake tonight for dinner but not sure how to put it in. Any suggestions?

Awesome, thank you!!!

I'm also a self pay patient here in the states. I attended a mandatory weight loss seminar with my surgeon back in late March. I had my first consultation with my surgeon on April 20, 2016. From there I had to do 2 support group meetings, met with the dietician 2x, had a psych evaluation, a few lab works, an upper GI, ultrasound on my gallbladder, an endoscopy, had to meet with my primary, had some kind of "breathing test" to see if my stomach had a certain type of bacteria. I THINK that was everything, I might of missed a thing or two. Aside from the surgery, I put the rest of the tests through my insurance and just had to pay my part after insurance kicked in. It isn't cheap. Then once that was all done, I had a surgery date of June 21st. But the surgeon's office called me June 13th and asked if I could come in for surgery on June 15th because the surgeon had hurt his back and was going in for surgery himself on June 16th. So before my head could comprehend what she was saying, I jumped at the chance. So tomorrow I will be 2 weeks post op and I'm feeling great.

I never had any steri strips or bandages. My doctor used a glue over the incision. Never had any incision pain and never had any muscle/stomach pain. I did have some discomfort for a couple days but that was it. I count myself really lucky.

I've been on 9 cruises so far, so I'm not new to cruising at all. I'm just curious what my next cruise will be like. Right now, I'm just over a week post-op. My husband and I are taking a road trip to Florida at the end of next month (I'll be 5 1/2 week post op at that point) to visit his dad. Yesterday he asked me if I wanted to take a 5-night cruise out of Miami, right after the week we spend at his dad's. While I would normally jump at the chance, I'm unsure of it right now. I have no idea on how meal times would go. I know at that time that I'm just starting out eating normally again. I can't see us doing the main dining room dinners, so I assume we would do buffets for all 3 meals. He said he was fine with that. Also, do you think I'll be able to take my sea sickness meds (bonine---similar to dramamine)? I normally start taking that 2 days before we leave and then take it everyday during the trip. I don't know if I'm over thinking this or what. But my mind is saying to wait til next summer. I don't know. What do you think? Were you be able to do a cruise so early after surgery?

I'm almost a week post op. The first couple of days there was no way in hell that I could come close to getting my Fluid intake OR Protein intake in. Thought I was doomed for failure. What I find works for me is that I fill up a 64oz mug with ice Water first thing in the morning and will sip on that throughout the day. I still can't get the whole thing down, but I will sip on it all day. Then for Breakfast I will have a chocolate Premier Protein shake (30g protein) and I add in a tbsp of PB2 powder (make my protein shake taste kind of like a reese cup) that adds another 2g. For lunch I have an Atkins Lift Protein Drink, that is 17oz and has 20g of protein. And starting yesterday I added a greek yogurt for dinner, that had 12g of protein. Give it time and it does get easier each day.

ooohhhhhh, never thought of adding stuff to the already made protein drinks. I have some PB2 that I haven't used yet. Definitely gonna try adding some to my chocolate Premier Protein drink. About how much PB2 did you add in?

I'm 4 days post-op and so far I've had premier Protein, chocolate flavor. While I don't mind this one at all, I have found others that I find much easier to get down. I have had a Coco Protein Drink (pina colada flavor) and that was pretty good (probably a 3-4 on a scale of 1-5) then I've had the Atkins Lift berry Flavor. This one I really like, so I'll give it a 5. I just bought the orange flavored Lift today, so I'll probably try that one tomorrow. Then I met a couple who live down the road from me today and they brought over a few samples of the Syntrax nectar Protein powder. Haven't had time to try those yet, maybe tomorrow.

I was just sleeved on Wed (June 15th) so I'm only 3 days out. I can thankfully say that I am not in any pain (a little uncomfortable but nothing I can't handle) But this feeling in my stomach is getting on my nerves. LOL I cannot stand the feeling of when I try to drink something. It's like it goes down, hits a certain spot, stays there for a couple seconds and then finally passes through to the stomach. It doesn't really hurt but is uncomfortable for a few seconds. Nurses said it was normal and all but can someone tell me how long this lasts for? Hopefully, this isn't going to be the new normal. If it wasn't for this weird feeling in my stomach, I would be totally fine.

I'm 4 days post-op and have to say I'm doing really good. I had a 2 night stay in the hospital and the only "problems" I had were nausea on the second day and for the first 2 days, I had a really bad back ache. But that was definitely NOT surgery related. I am one who does NOT sleep on my back. Mater of fact, after I hurt my back 8 years ago, I've slept in my recliner. So to actually have to lie down on my back for a couple hours for the surgery, really did my back in. So I did take some pain meds for that. Other than that, I never had to take them for the surgery. Today is the first day that I seem to have a better time getting my Protein in. I'm going to try some tomato Soup for dinner and then maybe a little bit of yogurt later on. Here's my question though (mainly for those who have had the sleeve for a while). I know at first my stomach was making all kinds of noises and just felt really weird. Luckily, it's not feeling as weird and liquids seem to be going down a lot easier. But during healing, is your stomach gonna go through different feelings? Like right now, it kind of feels bruised inside. Not bad, but it kind of reminds me of the feeling of a bruise.

I know my friend complained about how much the gas pains in her shoulders were. And I've read it many times here and on other forums. Does everyone get these pains? If so, are they immediately after surgery? Or can you get these pains a few days or even weeks after you have surgery?

I'm curious as to why there are so many different "pre-op" diets. I know each doctor has their own set of "rules" and different diets. But just curious why some doctors have a patient on a two week liquid diet while another doctor might do only a week. Some say you can have this, while others say you can't have that. I'm scheduled for the sleeve on 6/21. Starting on the 7th (two week time frame) I'm on what they called a ketotic diet. I can have 3 proteins/1 fat for Breakfast, 5oz proteins/1 fat for both lunch & dinner plus a snack containing a protein/fat. Then 24 hrs before surgery it's a complete liquid diet. I haven't even started my pre op diet yet but in my head I'm already complaining on how hungry I'm going to be. Now, reading how many people are on just liquids for 2 weeks, I'm just gonna shut my mouth and be thankful for the diet my doctor gave me.

We love to go on cruises and I'm just wondering how you handle your eating on a cruise? What about at night in the dining rooms, do the waiters ever look at you because you're not eating everyting? Any tips?

Right now I spend about $300 a week on groceries (sometimes a little more depending on the week) I know, it's fricken crazy. Has your grocery budget gone down since having surgery or is it about the same? I know I'll be eating less, obviously but I'm trying to think if there's any extras that I'll be buying once I have the surgery such as Vitamins, etc.

We have 4 people in our household. Me, my husband and our two boys (19 & 20). This amount is the amount I budget each week. It includes food, paper goods, cleaning supplies, everything. We don't drink so that's not a factor and have no pets. I usually make a menu each week of what I'll be making for dinners and what the boys will be taking for their lunches and then I make a grocery list from that plus all the regular every week stuff that I buy. Aside from Vitamins, is there anything else that I'll need to be buying post op?

My BMI is 68. I understand that surgery has more risks when someone's BMI is that high and probably more complications. For those who had surgery with a high BMI (say 60+) did you have any complications at all? If so, care to share what they were?

I know doctors want you to lose some weight to reduce the size of your liver so it's easier for them to operate. But really how much do you need to lose to make that kind of difference? I see some people only lose like 8-10lbs, some people a lot more. Will it really make much of a difference if you only lose a little bit? What about patients with a very high BMI (68)? I'm assuming they'd have to lose a lot more before surgery?

Hi all, Just found this site while scoping out the internet for info on lap-bands. A friend of mine had hers done back in May and is doing great. I had always sworn that I would NEVER EVER EVER go under the knife, especially for a weight loss surgery. But I'm at the end of my rope and don't know what else to do. I have tried Weight Watchers a BAZILLION times and have gained weight while on it several times I've tried "dieting" on my own to no avail, I've been on pills from my DR. but nothing has worked. I've been trying to soak up as much info as I can on lap-banding (preferably from people who have had it done). I'd love to hear all about the positives and negatives that come with this procedure. And I guess the best way to get that info is to read this forum. I can't wait to get started!!! Thanks, Pam